The Division of Our Hearts
by Blueberrychills94
Summary: The Downworlders are the enemy, that's what every Shadowhunter is raised to be believe. Do not trust any of them, at all costs. Alec is a solider in an endless war, fighting towards a better tomorrow. He thinks he's doing the right thing, until a glittery warlock from the opposing side crashes into his life and steals his heart. In a cruel world, can love really prevail?
1. Prologue

**The Division of Our Hearts**

Prologue

The war between the Shadowhunters and the Downworlders had raged for hundreds of years. There were rumours about how it began but, after twenty seven generations of fighting and bloodshed, no one could really be sure of the true origin story. All anyone knew was that Downworlders killed Shadowhunters and Shadowhunters hunted Downworlders. Both sides believed that they were on the right side of the war. Both sides believed they were doing the right thing.

Even though the Downworlders outweighed the Shadowhunters in numbers, the latter were stronger in stealth and agility. The numbers problem was because the Downworlders consisted of five groups who worked in alliance with each other; five different species who didn't exactly get along but fought together in allegiance for the war. Vampires; werewolves; fairies; mere-folk; and warlocks all opposed the Shadowhunters, who worked solely as a single species side. But what they lack in numbers, they make up for in experience.

When a child is born into a Shadowhunter family, they are taken to their local institute at the age of five to be trained as soldiers. At the age of eighteen, they are then sent out to fight in the war, with thirteen years of experience under their belts. You fight, you rest, you eat, sleep, and, eventually, die. The cycle of Shadowhunter life is a sad one but it is morally right, in their eyes, for the insurance to win the war. That's all that seemed to matter, now-a-days. Win the war. End it somehow. No matter what it takes.

Maryse and Robert Lightwood were both respectable Shadowhunters. They fought hard every day of their lives and brought many victories of many fights out on the field. The countless awards and commendments they received in their lifetime was still the most to ever be given to a set of soldiers in the history of the war. They died on the field, with honour and valour, leaving their two children behind to carry their legacy once they were old enough to fight.

The Lightwood children never really knew their parents. They were raised in a New York institute, in their parents' hometown, while said parents stayed out in the field nearly 24/7. The youngest Lightwood, Max, was only five years old when Maryse and Robert were killed in a final victory attempt that took the lives of themselves and the entire vampire league that had been converging on the Shadowhunter campground, leaving the eldest, Alexander, to bear the weight of the family history on his shoulders. There was also a middle child, Isabelle, who acted like a second mother to her little brother and was known famously for her ability to boss her older brother about.

No Shadowhunter's life was easy, but some may argue that the Lightwoods had it even rougher than that. However, none of the three children would admit this. They were raised to not complain, to grin and bear the do's they are expected to. The war was everyone's main priority and now, four years after the deaths of Maryse and Robert Lightwood, a light at the end of the tunnel was beginning to become visible. Maybe there was a chance that, after twenty seven generations, the war would end.

The tricky thing was that it wasn't the Shadowhunters who were nearing the victory.

It was the Downworlders.

The tension between both sides was getting tighter and tighter. Needless fights broke out, leading to many unnecessary deaths. The warlocks were gathering bigger and stronger spells. The fairies were becoming more and more devious and deceiving, if that were possible. The werewolves were getting more vicious, the vampires more swift. The mer-folk more enchanting. It was becoming harder and harder for the Shadowhunters to keep up. They were only barely managing.

It was obvious that Shadowhunters and Downworlders didn't mix. They didn't interact with each other. They didn't speak, they couldn't even bear walking on the same side of the pavement together. The only time interaction of any kind took place, it was when they were fighting. Things like love and friendship were out of the question, unspeakable, dishonourable.

Except, two people were about to change that. Two people on opposite sides of the endless war, who were fighting towards the same goal. Two people were about to fall in love.

And nothing would ever be the same again.

**A/N: Hello! As well as my HG fanfics, I've decided to dip my toe into the TMI pool to write some Malec! I know this chapter is short but it's only the prologue. It's just a bit of background anyway and a bit of insight into what's to come :) **

**Has anyone else heard the news about TMI being made into a t.v series instead of a series of movies? I think it's a wonderful idea, despite the fact that the characters are going to be recast. What are you guys' thoughts on it?**

**Reviews would be helpful and greatly appreciated! **


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

There's one thing they never prepare you for in the institute. One thing that can only be learned while out on the field, fighting for your life. That one thing is that actually sinking a weapon into a target is absolutely nothing like sinking a weapon into a living being. There is a world of difference between them both, in terms of moral and of sanity. How could they prepare you for it, anyway? The elders are not there to give lessons on guilt and how it weighs on the mind, they're there to teach the young to fight. To teach them balance and strategy and aim. Stealth, precision, agility. The matters of the mind are nothing to do with the elders. And they like it that way.

A fairy explodes into dust before Alec's eyes. The arrow that had sank into her chest is almost buried in a thick pile of gold glitter and he can barely think twice before he swoops down into her remains and retrieves it, loading his bow and waiting for the next assault. He keeps his back against the wall as the sounds of battle roar in his ears, the screams and shouts deafening, even to someone audibly conditioned like him. Alec tries to keep his mind off the fact that his hand is slathered in gold fairy remains, the dust sparkling on his pale skin almost like a reminder of what he'd just done.

The Battle at Warren Point was into its third day but Alec had only been sent out the previous day to take the place of a solider he did not know who had been killed by a nymph. With three full quivers strapped to his back and a fourth only emptying now, Alec felt comfortable-well, as comfortable as you can be in the middle of a warzone-and confident that he'd make it through.

This was far from Alec's first battle. He knew exactly what he was doing, this was his fifth time being sent out on the field since his eighteenth birthday, after all. The thing about the fairies was that they just kept coming. Their numbers were endless. And, of course, they choose the night of the three day full moon to attack, where they can stream out of the lakes and rivers in dizzying numbers. But this was the third night and if they hung on just a little longer, they might just be able to hold out.

Alec needed a higher vantage point. They higher he was, the clearer his attackers would be. He could pick fairies off like pieces of meat with a tooth pick but they were still deceiving creatures, he didn't like being on the ground while they were so close by. The forest was dark but Alec saw through it like it were daytime. Clary had invented another rune for him before he left the previous night, a gift of good luck she gave every time he was called out. Alec had believed that this particular gift had been relatively pointless as he thought he could use his witch light if he couldn't see but it didn't take him long to realize that this would be unfeasible since he wouldn't have a chance to breathe without letting an arrow fly, let alone hold a witch light for guidance. This time around it was a visionary rune, a simple symbol carved onto the eyelids to improve eyesight, especially at night. People were fighting and dying all around him, the blood of the fallen having stained the soil dark red mixed with sparkling gold.

Keeping on hand firmly gripped around his bow, Alec spun around and threw himself at the wall he had been leaning against, his boots immediately finding grip on the stone and aiding him in heaving himself up as high as he could. From the top of the wall, he could see the battle clearly. Not that he wanted to, the sight was a miserable and despondent one. Bodies were strewn across the grass, blood dripping from various orifices. Piles of gold glitter dust everywhere, sprinkling every piece of nature within a mile radius.

Alec let an arrow fly, the tip burying between the shoulder blades of a fairy about to attack an injured solider. He pulled another one out and created another pile of dust. And another. And another. And another. He picked fairies off from his vantage point left, right and center. He tried to aid as many Shadowhunters as possible, especially the tired and the wounded. The fairy numbers were dwindling, especially now when the moon had disappeared and the sky was stained orange, a sign of sunrise.

When the final fairy melted into dust, Alec still had a whole quiver of arrows left. The silence was even more deafening that the racquet the battle had caused. Alec couldn't believe he hadn't heard it die down. He couldn't tell how many people were alive or how many were dead. All he knew was that he had survived and, for the sake of Max and Isabelle, this was a good thing.

His feet made no sound as he jumped off the wall, landing in the grass with a thump so gentle, even the butterflies couldn't hear it. Alec weaved around any mess piles of gold dust but still managed to get some stuck to the toes of his boots. Every dead body he passed, he mindlessly murmured a quick, two line prayer to the Angel. It was something Hodge always taught himself and Isabelle to do, to show respect towards all members of the Shadowhunter army. Alec wasn't all that big on the angel business anymore. If there were an Angel out there, who had created them all and still supposedly watch over them, why didn't they come to help them all now? Or twenty seven generations ago when this whole business started?

It's a bit difficult praying to an entity that doesn't seem to be listening. But Alec kept doing it anyway, because there was nothing else for it.

As he waded through the battle debris, Alec came face to face with Aline. Both tensed, prepared for a fight, but instantly relaxed as the realization of how they were standing in front of slowly became clear. Alec let his arm drop away from his quiver while Aline slowly lowered her seraph blade. "How many dead?" Alec asked her.

"Hard to say," sniffed Aline. She slid her blade back into its sheath but kept a hand firmly wrapped around the hilt, prepared for an ambush. "All I have gathered so far is that we have won, and that's all I need for now."

"You're right," agreed Alec. "The Clave will count the deaths. The names of the dead will be added the wall as usual."

"The wall," Aline voiced. Her voice was dry. "It's a wonder we haven't ran out of names on that thing yet. We've surely wasted miles of plague just carving names into that damn wall." The sky was on fire now, streaks of yellow and orange looking almost like a huge canvas of morning colours. "whose job is it anyway to carve the names on the wall? It may have only been a rumour but last I heard the previous bereavement officer was ambushed by the wolves."

"I'm not entirely sure." They were nearing the portal back to Alicante, where the remaining shadowhunters were gathered around. Even though they had won the battle against the fairies, the fight had affected their numbers greatly. Only fifteen to twenty remained out of the hundred that had been sent out.

"Doesn't your brother want to be a bereavement officer?" Aline asked.

"I'm not completely certain of that," Alec answered. "Isabelle wanted him to become an officer but after the recent wolf attack, she has changed her mind."

"She's changed her mind," Aline repeated. Her bottom lip stuck out a little, almost petulantly, as she ran those four words through her mind again. "Your sister's overprotective streak isn't going to do your brother any good in the long run. If she shelters him his entire life then when he's sent out on the field, he's going to get some shock."

Alec knew this all too well. When it came to Isabelle's domineering attitude towards Max, very little could be done regarding what will happen when reality hits them both. Alec would do anything to protect his siblings but there was little he could do when it came to shielding them from the war. They couldn't be saved from it and, as painful as it was, victory came first. Even if victory seemed miles away.

They stopped in front of the portal. Alec hated the use of portals. Only warlocks knew how to create them, so the Shadowhunters forced the warlock prisoners to conjure them up anytime they needed one. The whole concept of keeping people against their will was disgusting and, even though everyone was raised on the same line of thinking and moral, Alec couldn't help feeling like taking people prisoner was the most unnecessary practice the Shadowhunters undertook. It was dirty. It was malevolent. It was . . . It was . . . inhumane.

"Are you staying at Alicante tonight or are you going back to the New York Institute?" asked Aline.

They joined the crowd of wounded and surviving Shadowhunters who were crowded en masse around the portal. Alec shrugged. "I want to go back to Isabelle and Max, I haven't seen them in a while but . . ."

". . . but you don't want to use the captured warlocks to make you a portal," finished Aline. She didn't sound too bothered about it, contrary to standard reaction. "I get it. I suppose I should be driving my blade through your chest for such thoughts but as long as you're not holding hands with the vermin Downworlders and skipping around throwing daisies I don't really care about how you feel they should be treated."

"I get why we're fighting them," said Alec, "I just don't understand the necessity of holding them prisoner against their will. Can't we just kill them? Torture just seems so . . . drawn out. I thought we wanted this war over as soon as possible, that's all."

Aline shrugged. "Some of them hold answers and to get those answers we must use brute force and ignorance, that's all I have to say on the matter."

Ignorance. Perhaps that was something the Shadowhunters had too much of. Too much ignorance.

The streets of Alicante were empty when Alec and Aline stepped through the portal. In his eighteen years, never had Alec ever seen a single soul walk down the barren streets. It was an unspoken rule to stay inside, in case of an attack. No one wanted to die and, besides, most of the houses were empty, all the occupants sent off to an Institute on earth to train. There was a time when seventy three was the retirement age for a solider. No one ever reached seventy three anymore. You'd be lucky if you even reached fifty.

In the distance, Alec could make out the wall, the massive black plague that stretched for miles along the hills of Iris. Every time a hunter died fighting for the better future, their name was carved onto the wall. Alec didn't know how many time the wall had been added to, just to fit all the new names. If he squinted, he could make out the replacement bereavement officer making his way up the hill, probably having already been informed of the surprise attack at Warren Point by the fairies.

Alec's parents' names were on the wall. Lost in a sea of others. Every once and a while, he and Isabelle made the trek up the hill to visit the wall. Since the City of Bones became obsolete because of the thousands of deaths that occurred every day, the wall was the only form of burial anyone had anymore. Alec stilled remembered the day they were informed of their parents' deaths. It wasn't like Maryse and Robert had played a huge part in their development, Hodge was more of a father to them than either of those two, but the news had still been devastating. Any hopes of ever having met them were dashed.

Isabelle wore white for six months after that, even when she wasn't supposed to. Max had to be eased into the news gently but, as the youngest who was still too youthful to fully understand the devastation the war caused, he accepted this pretty easily. Alec still wasn't sure how he felt about it to this day. All he knew was that people expected him to be like his father, even though he didn't know what his father had done or how he acted or how he behaved. All anyone would ever tell him was that they were both honourable people who died heroically and respectfully for the cause.

So everyone expected to him to do just that. They expected Alec to die. Just like his parents.

Aline's knuckles loosened around the hilt of her sword, but only a little bit. She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "I'm going to check on my mother. She will be wondering how the battle went." Aline's mother was one of the very few elderly hunters that remained in Iris. At the age of seventy six, she had been long expected to retire, but the woman was resilient and didn't let the hunters bully her into retiring. She was still considered a solider.

Alec watched her walk away. He considered asking for a portal to be made as he desperately wanted to see Max and Isabelle, to reassure them that he was alive and well. He also wanted to check in on his parabatai, Jace, who was well aware that he was okay due to their bond but still needed to be checked up on anyway. Alec shook his head. No, he was many things, but he wasn't going to stoop to the level of the Clave regarding the treatment of the captured warlocks. He'd just stay in the Lightwood home for the night and figure something out tomorrow.

A hand clapped his shoulder and, because he was still in warzone mode, Alec spun around and pointed his loaded bow at the perpetrator. Standing before him, with a goofy grin, was Jace himself. "Whoa, solider, no need for that. You do realize the fight is over, right?"

"Jace!" Alec scowled. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"We came to see you," Jace replied. "We knew you wouldn't come home because of your silly prisoner beliefs so Hodge arranged for a portal to be made and viola, here we are."

"We?" asked Alec.

"Yes, we-can you please lower that thing? It's making me nervous." Alec slowly lowered his bow, his hunter instincts bristling from having been alerted so suddenly. Jace's ridiculous grin widened and he continued. "We. Me, Clary, Isabelle and Max."

"They let Clary come?" asked Alec.

The situation with Clary was a complicated one. Her mother tried to shelter her from the war by running away and pretending they were human. Only recently did Clary discover the truth and she only started her training a little while back. Alec hadn't thought that the Clave would allow her through because of the circumstances but he'd obviously been proved wrong.

"A Shadowhunters a Shadowhunter," shrugged Jace. "They couldn't keep her away. Besides, she wanted to see how the Visionary rune worked."

"It was actually extremely helpful," Alec reluctantly admitted. He wasn't all that keen on Clary and how she had just been dropped into their laps like a baby on a doorstep but Jace was so taken with her, Alec didn't have the heart to ruin it for him. "Where's my brother and sister?"

"They're all at the house," answered Jace. They started walking in the direction of the Lightwood home, leaving the others behind to get looked over and treated for injuries. "Don't you have to stay and have your health assessed?"

"I'm fine," answered Alec. "I didn't get hurt."

"Yeah, that's totally obvious from how you're covered in fair-folk dust," Jace replied with a frown.

"I'm fine, seriously. I think I'd know if I was hurt."

Jace shrugged. "Fine, you're fine. Who am I to complain? I'd probably feel it if it were extremely severe anyway."

"Exactly." The whole parabatai bond could be both a blessing and a curse. Alec didn't know which way to think of it but preferred to view it as a blessing. Since Jace was probably one of the best people you could ever have a parabatai bond with, even if he was a tad reckless.

On the way to the Lightwood home, Jace suddenly stopped dead in the street. Alec paused as well. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Is that a cat?" asked Jace, squinting into an alleyway.

Alec looked at the alleyway in question. The rising sun case shadows everywhere, dousing every possible nook and cranny in darkness. He couldn't see into the small, walled in pathway. Although, in the dense blackness, he could vaguely make out a pair of slitted eyes, the pupil surrounded in what had to be the deepest grass green Alec had ever seen. Who had cats now-a-days anyway? They were usually used as cannon fodder.

"Must be," he replied.

"Cats," Jace said slowly, turning back to face the direction they were walking. His eyebrows drew together.

"Where do people get cats from now-a-days?" Alec asked as they started walking again.

"The cat store," said Jace.

Alec rolled his eyes and lightly punched the blond's arm. They continued to their journey to the Lightwood house, completely forgetting about the unusual sight they just witnessed. They didn't see the eyes move with the form of a human body standing up.

Nor did they see it walk away, leaving a sprinkling of glitter in its wake.

**A/N: Thank you everyone for the reads, follows, faves and the one review! I've altered the summary a little but the story is still basically the same. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I probably won't be able to update this quickly next time but I'll try to update at least once a week. Review with your thoughts? :-)**


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